


Your Mother's Name

by Leonawriter



Category: Dissidia Duodecim: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, Inspired by Fanfiction, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-07 20:03:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12848520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: They weren’t stuck in time loops, even if it might seem like that with the way he kept having to repeat himself to the man he kept killing. No, Sephiroth kept losing his memory of everything - and thought that Cloud of all people would know the answers he was looking for.





	Your Mother's Name

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sinnatious](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinnatious/gifts).



> Heavily inspired by the fic Cyclic Dilemma by Sinnatious (which I think is only on FFNet, unfortunately). But although I found that funny at first (I can just imagine him saying “It was a reflex action. Oops.” after the fact on the second time) it soon got… less funny. I guess I’m way too sympathetic to Sephiroth to enjoy him just being offed in different ways as the main thing.
> 
> Disclaimer: I’ve never watched or played through the Dissidia games, I’ve only got an understanding of FF7 and a bit of 8, and the rest is only through osmosis. But… This is just an idea that popped into my head and is probably full of mistakes. Might get edited or added to when I finally do watch through the relevant game, but until then, it is as it is.

The first time, his hand had gone for his sword the moment he’d seen silver hair, green eyes, and that _smile_ , and a hand going to _that sword_ -

Sephiroth dying so quickly had put him on edge, sure that something would happen to bring the man back, that this wasn’t _it_ , it was _never_ as easy as that - until someone else had said about how none of them remembered anything, when they first arrived.

Judging by the others, Sephiroth had only been able to remember his name. And he’d been able to figure out that Cloud was from the same world as he was, too.

In retrospect, slowing his memories down, the expression had been less cold and full of hatred than he’d thought, and the hand on Masamune had merely been the same as anyone with a weapon - steadying it out of the way.

Probably.

He couldn’t find it within himself to regret it, though. He hadn’t known about his enemy’s loss of memory, and even then - he’d still done all of the things Cloud remembered him doing. Sooner or later, he _would_ remember, and then it would only be a matter of time before they came to blows again.

…

The second time around, and his first sight of Sephiroth was at a distance. But at least this time, he knew better than to assume that the first glance his way would be one full of murderous intent, strange as that would be to have to reconcile with.

The closest thing he had to a plan was to… stay out of the way. If he didn’t draw attention to himself, then perhaps Sephiroth wouldn’t become interested enough in him to notice he was even there.

The plan, of course, was doomed to failure before it had even begun to form. Hardly a few hours had passed, and the hairs at the nape of his neck were rising.

“Am I correct to assume that we come from the same world?”

Cloud grit his teeth.

The worst of it was that this Sephiroth, just like the last one he’d dealt with, didn’t remember a thing, didn’t _know_ a damn thing, other than that he was an agent of Chaos. Didn’t know that he and Cloud had tried to kill each other, and that they were hardly on good enough terms for something like _conversation._

 _“…_ Yes.”

That, at least, he could hardly pretend was not true. Anyone watching his reactions to the man’s presence could tell _that_ much.

Sephiroth tilted his head, smiling just slightly. The expression had him twitching for his sword, but he stubbornly refused the impulse - no matter how much relief it might bring him.

If there was one thing that had bothered him ever since last time, it was that as far as Sephiroth knew, this Sephiroth without memories, in his last moments all he could have understood was a sudden, unexplained death. In his eyes - as unfair as it was - he didn’t _know_ what he’d done wrong.

Maybe he still should have killed the man who had tried to destroy the Planet so many times over regardless, but… unbidden, Aerith’s disapproving face came into his mind’s eye. She wouldn’t have wanted that.

“Tell me then, Cloud.” He twitched. “That is your name, is it not?”

He must have heard it from one of the others, somehow.

“Yes.”

There was no point denying that, either. Although the confirmation made Sephiroth’s smile widen in a way he didn’t like.

“Tell me,” Sephiroth continued, clearly following his previous thoughts, “do we know each other, in this world we both come from?”

“ _No_.”

The word was so easy, came out of him before he’d realised he’d said anything even, and he left, striding away.

Which was a mistake, of course. Sephiroth was smarter than that, and besides - he had regained enough memories in due time that it didn’t take long before he was beset by cold fury and hatred once more, and the word “ _Liar!”_ dancing from Sephiroth’s lips with the same precision as any of his weaponised words had in the past, only with more effect because this time, it was _true._

…

Next time, he didn’t make that mistake. And although he still made an attempt at no contact at all, was prepared far more for the idea of an early fight than he was that of being taken unaware.

When asked if they came from the same world, he said that they were.

“Tell me then, Cloud,” and the way that Sephiroth said his name, tasting it out as though it were a new word each time they met for the ‘first’ time, reminded him far too much of when he _had_ remembered, and had merely used it to taunt him. “Do we know each other?”

He considered his options. He couldn’t say _no_ , but then what could he say if he said _yes?_

Instead of either, he just shrugged.

“Ah,” Sephiroth said, sounding faintly annoyed and - disappointed. It was a human enough reaction that it had Cloud blink, off-kilter for a moment. “A shame. I had been hoping for more detail.”

 _At least a shrug won’t get me called a liar,_ he thought to himself.

It didn’t matter much, though - this time, he was just called _coward_. For refusing to give any more information, for choosing not to fight when he could have.

It stung, reminding him of when he wasn’t strong enough, when he’d been unable to save anyone, just because he’d not done anything.

…

“We knew each other from work,” he said, next time around, even though he was unsettled by the way Sephiroth’s eyes glinted at the new information.

It was true, however. No matter that it was from so far in the past that Sephiroth would probably try and use that against him when he finally remembered everything, too. But at least he’d _chosen_ to bring this up. It was in his control.

“I see…” For a moment, Cloud had hoped that this would be it, but he had no such luck. “I do wonder just how much you know about me, Cloud.”

He shrugged again, but didn’t make the mistake of leaving it at that.

“Enough, I guess. You’re not exactly a nobody.”

Which had been true even before Sephiroth had attempted to destroy the Planet with Meteor, well before the Reunion.

“Then if I have questions, you won’t mind answering them… will you? Things are rather _uneven_ between us otherwise, are thy not?”

He could have refused. He _could_ have. But then Sephiroth would have immediately known that he was _hiding something._

So, he shrugged again. Not a dismissal, but not an open invitation, either.

However, although he’d expected the questions immediately, the first one came a few hours later, and it was one that he could not have prepared himself for.

“My mother,” Sephiroth said, “does your knowledge of me extend to her?” Cloud’s memory flashed back to _Jenova_ , to the Nibelheim reactor, to his village in flames, _Tifa, Zack_ \- if Sephiroth had started to remember again-! “I only have an impression, not a memory. It is not enough.”

Impressions and feelings weren’t memories. It was safe - for now.

But he still needed an answer. One that wouldn’t bring everything back. Not immediately.

“Lucrecia,” he said, willing himself not to sag from relief at being able to remember something which could help, and that wasn’t a lie to be seen through later on. “Her name’s Lucrecia Crescent. I don’t know much more than that, though.”

Which was also true. Besides which, her story was as much Vincent’s as it was hers - which made it not Cloud’s to tell, when he wasn’t sure he was remembering the details right in this place himself, and he didn’t know if Vincent _or_ Lucrecia herself even _wanted_ Sephiroth to know that name.

He was suddenly not so sure of whether this had been such a good idea, but it was done now. And if Sephiroth forgot everything again, then it wasn’t as though it would affect anything past this cycle.

Sephiroth, meanwhile, had become lost in thought.

“….Thank you then, Cloud.”

He left, with Cloud staring after him in barefaced shock at the fact that he’d been _thanked._ By _Sephiroth_. Amnesiac or not.

The attack, when it did come, was brutal. The word _liar_ echoed through the air, not taunting but _snarled_ out.

It was a far cry from the fighting style he’d come to expect, and the words didn’t sting, or carry old weapons to reopen old wounds, this time - instead, they made him _angry._

…

Sephiroth _didn’t_ remember anything the next time around, which was probably for the best, although it did mean that Cloud had deja vu at his enemy walking guilelessly toward him in order to ask who he was yet _again_.

It wasn’t a plan, this time. It wasn’t even an idea. It was simply emotion, spurred on by anger, that made him answer the way that he did. And if it meant that Sephiroth remembered things from his past sooner rather than later - well. That would just mean that Cloud would need to keep a hand on his sword, as if he didn’t already.

“We were born in the same town,” he said this time. “Your mother is Lucrecia Crescent. But you moved away before I was born.”

 _True, true. It was all true._ He remembered - whether it was talking to Vincent, listening to Hojo talk, or reading the same reports that had led Sephiroth himself to lock himself in the ShinRa mansion, he knew it was all _true_.

Sephiroth had taunted him with truths of a sort, when Cloud was with AVALANCHE, when he’d been trying to save the world from Meteor and almost ended up dooming it instead because of Sephiroth’s ability to get inside his head, _control_ him. When he still hadn’t known who he was, and what parts of him were _Zack_.

It only seemed fair that he returned the favour.

He could almost see tongues of fire flicking in Sephiroth’s eyes when they later fought, the scream of _liar_ resounding much like _traitor_ had once before. Cloud’s own eyes narrowed, and pushed on the offensive with the opportunities that Sephiroth’s anger, clouding his judgement and swings, gave him.

…

“We were born in the same town,” he said again the next cycle. “Your mother’s name is Lucrecia Crescent.”

If there was one thing Cloud definitely was, it was stubborn. And now that he’d realised how he could use the truth, he wasn’t about to stop.

…

“-born in Nibelheim. Your mother’s name is Lucrecia Crescent.”

The hungry look in Sephiroth’s eyes at his mother’s name never failed to send a chill down Cloud’s spine.

“Anything else?”

Almost as though he knew that he’d been told this half a dozen times already.

“Yeah,” he said, figuring that there _was_ something else he knew. “We were both used as human lab rats.”

In the moment, at the time it was said, it was disconcerting how Sephiroth’s expression changed into something closed off - all the more so for the fact that Cloud _recognised_ that expression, from himself. He’d seen it on Vincent, too. Shaken by trauma they couldn’t even remember, words causing them to have reactions they didn’t even understand.

When Sephiroth appeared, floating down from the dark sky on one black wing, hair fanning out in the wind as he came down, there was a mocking smirk on his face.

“Attempting to elicit sympathy as well as lying, _Cloud?”_

He matched Sephiroth blow for blow the moment the first opportunity came, biting out his reply.

“I don’t want anything from you! You’re the one asking me questions - it isn’t my fault if you don’t like the truth!”

Sephiroth had gone to Jenova, tried to kill Zack, him, Tifa - _had_ killed his entire village, _everything_ he cherished - all because he’d been under the impression that Jenova was his _mother._

Sometimes, he wondered what would happen if, by the time the cycles stopped, what he had been saying would somehow have become a long term memory, if the idea _stuck_ , and what would happen then.

But for this cycle, it was soon going to become a moot point.


End file.
